Man who offered to fix flat tire was no Good Samaritan: sheriff

A man who offered to help a woman with a flat tire outside a Madisonville-area store turned out to be anything but a Good Samaritan, authorities said.

Melvin Magee, 53, is accused of flattening the tire on the woman's car while she was inside the store, then offering to fix it for her when she came out, the St. Tammany Parish Sheriff's Office said Thursday (Sept. 6).

Magee was arrested at his Madisonville home Wednesday and booked with simple criminal damage to property under $1,000. A tire valve stem was found in his pants pocket during booking.

The Aug. 30 incident occurred at a store on Louisiana 22. Instead of taking Magee up on his offer to help, the woman become suspicious of his intentions and called authorities, the Sheriff's Office said.

Deputies discovered that Magee had tampered with the tire prior to the victim exiting the business, according to a Sheriff's Office news release. They believe Magee flattened the tire in an effort to obtain payment for fixing it, the release said.

On Sept. 2, the Sheriff's Office posted a notice on its Facebook page asking the public for information about the incident and the suspect. In the post, the department said it had received multiple reports about the man, including one in which he changed a tire for someone and then demanded $50.

Thanks to information received from witnesses, detectives were able obtain a warrant for Magee's arrest, authorities said.

Detectives believe Magee may have scammed or tried to dupe others using the same tactics. The Sheriff's Office asks that anyone who was a victim or has information about the case to call Detective Foltmer at (985) 276-1330.